The JustType StudyA modular synthesizer system designed around JustType
Overview
This is a Eurorack system I designed for a performance on 24 July 2026; it is 3+1U, 64HP, eight modules in total.
At its centre is a monome Teletype clone (made by 王凯文) — a programming module with its own scripting language that lets you organise music in scripts; the harmony, quantisation and triggering of a piece are all written in the script, which can be downloaded from this page.
The other seven: a Mannequins Just Friends (a digital oscillator that can be controlled digitally over I2C by the Teletype), a Holocene AWMS (Radio, LFO and S&H), a Holocene Seiche (complex dual filters), a modular.khiat v.dws (a control module that turns a wire displacement sensor, like the ring of the Ondes Martenot, into a voltage output), a 1U Nearness Mixer designed by sarnesjo (mixing with panning), a 1U Pico FX (reverb) and a 1U active output module. The Pico FX and the Output module come from fm.things and were made by my friend qoɔ.
Motivation The system had three starting points:
First, learning the Teletype. I had owned it for two years, always planning to learn it and never starting — perhaps because it is too menu-driven, has a high learning cost, and has never been part of my workflow.
Second, making something most people can accept. I have always placed popular listenability very low among my priorities, so my performances are often hard for most people to take; part of that is my lack of skill and study in popular music design, and another part is that I simply do not design from the angle of listenability.
Third, designing a live set inside a small system. I am used to working with large systems such as 24U 104HP, and since I plan to study sound art in Europe, carrying a system that big is impractical — I need to learn to design within the constraints of a small system.
Where it comes from The chord script follows the logic of the Instruō harmonàig: quantise the pitches inside a chord and let the system decide what the next note may be.
How it works In this system, emulating the logic of the Instruō harmonàig, I wrote a script that builds chords from only a root-note input, and designed a chord progression so that Just Friends outputs 3-6 play block chords following that progression. Outputs 3-6 each trigger with a slight time offset; by designing those time offsets to match the panning positions of those jacks on the Nearness, I arrived at "left-to-right-triggered" block chords. Outputs 1-2 carry the melody, their pitches an octave apart. The melody's pitch comes from the voltage output of the v.dws ring module, fed into the Teletype's CV in and run through a quantisation script that snaps it to chord tones of the current chord. When the input voltage changes, the melody is triggered; when it stays unchanged for a long time, the melody stops. I also designed a set of rhythmic trigger outputs to ping the two filters on the Seiche, giving me percussion, while the AWMS supplies Radio output, LFO and S&H to help the system breathe.
The patching of this system is very simple and clear at a glance. I'll provide the Teletype script here for anyone who needs it to reference and use. I'm sorry — I haven't written much explanation or commentary in it.
My contribution System design, scripting and performance: me.
Where it has been shown 2026.07.24, antianti, Shanghai (invited artist). No recording was made of that evening.
2026.10.04, Cedar Land at CPARK, Shanghai (invited, part of a line-up). The poster and two photographs are below.
The recording on this page is a demo of the system (22:51), not a recording of either performance.
At its centre is a monome Teletype clone (made by 王凯文) — a programming module with its own scripting language that lets you organise music in scripts; the harmony, quantisation and triggering of a piece are all written in the script, which can be downloaded from this page.
The other seven: a Mannequins Just Friends (a digital oscillator that can be controlled digitally over I2C by the Teletype), a Holocene AWMS (Radio, LFO and S&H), a Holocene Seiche (complex dual filters), a modular.khiat v.dws (a control module that turns a wire displacement sensor, like the ring of the Ondes Martenot, into a voltage output), a 1U Nearness Mixer designed by sarnesjo (mixing with panning), a 1U Pico FX (reverb) and a 1U active output module. The Pico FX and the Output module come from fm.things and were made by my friend qoɔ.
Motivation The system had three starting points:
First, learning the Teletype. I had owned it for two years, always planning to learn it and never starting — perhaps because it is too menu-driven, has a high learning cost, and has never been part of my workflow.
Second, making something most people can accept. I have always placed popular listenability very low among my priorities, so my performances are often hard for most people to take; part of that is my lack of skill and study in popular music design, and another part is that I simply do not design from the angle of listenability.
Third, designing a live set inside a small system. I am used to working with large systems such as 24U 104HP, and since I plan to study sound art in Europe, carrying a system that big is impractical — I need to learn to design within the constraints of a small system.
Where it comes from The chord script follows the logic of the Instruō harmonàig: quantise the pitches inside a chord and let the system decide what the next note may be.
How it works In this system, emulating the logic of the Instruō harmonàig, I wrote a script that builds chords from only a root-note input, and designed a chord progression so that Just Friends outputs 3-6 play block chords following that progression. Outputs 3-6 each trigger with a slight time offset; by designing those time offsets to match the panning positions of those jacks on the Nearness, I arrived at "left-to-right-triggered" block chords. Outputs 1-2 carry the melody, their pitches an octave apart. The melody's pitch comes from the voltage output of the v.dws ring module, fed into the Teletype's CV in and run through a quantisation script that snaps it to chord tones of the current chord. When the input voltage changes, the melody is triggered; when it stays unchanged for a long time, the melody stops. I also designed a set of rhythmic trigger outputs to ping the two filters on the Seiche, giving me percussion, while the AWMS supplies Radio output, LFO and S&H to help the system breathe.
The patching of this system is very simple and clear at a glance. I'll provide the Teletype script here for anyone who needs it to reference and use. I'm sorry — I haven't written much explanation or commentary in it.
M: EVERY 4: $ 2 K O; $ 1 I ER 3 16 K; J ER 17 32 K IF I: CV 1 N RRND 0 3; TR.P 1 IF J: TR.P 2 I: JF.MODE 1 JF.VTR 0 V 3 JF.VTR 1 V 2; JF.VTR 2 VV 150 M 50; M.ACT 1 PN.WRAP 0 1; PN.I 0 -1 TR.TIME 1 100; TR.TIME 2 100 1: X DIV IN 1024 I MOD X 4 J N MUL 12 ADD 2 DIV X 4 C ADD N.C B Z I J $ 7 2: T MOD ADD T 1 16 IF EZ ER 2 16 T: BREAK R PN.NEXT 0; $ 3; $ 6 3: B R; Z 0 Y WRAP R 0 11 IF EQ Y 7: Z 2 IF EQ Y 11: Z 6 IF EQ MOD Y 7 2: Z 1 IF EQ Y 4: Z 1 4: L 3 6: JF.TR I 1 DEL 50: $ 5 5: L 3 6: JF.TR I 0 6: JF.PITCH 5 N.C R Z 2 DEL 10: JF.PITCH 3 N.C R Z 0 DEL 20: JF.PITCH 4 N.C R Z 1 DEL 40: JF.PITCH 6 N.C R Z 3 $ 4 7: IF NE X A: $ 8 IF EQ D 1: JF.TR 1 0 IF EQ D 1: JF.TR 2 0 IF GT D 0: D SUB D 1 A X 8: D 40 JF.PITCH 1 - C N 12 JF.PITCH 2 - C N 24 JF.TR 1 1 JF.TR 2 1↓ Download full Teletype scene (tt20s.txt)
My contribution System design, scripting and performance: me.
Where it has been shown 2026.07.24, antianti, Shanghai (invited artist). No recording was made of that evening.
2026.10.04, Cedar Land at CPARK, Shanghai (invited, part of a line-up). The poster and two photographs are below.
The recording on this page is a demo of the system (22:51), not a recording of either performance.